


Hot Chocolate

by AzuriteSprite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 05:34:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzuriteSprite/pseuds/AzuriteSprite
Summary: Finals week is a time for unhealthy caffeine consumption and suffering. Keith has never been a fan of coffee, but luckily, Lance offers a sweet substitution. Surviving finals becomes a lot easier with sweet drinks and sweet company.





	Hot Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Secret Santa gift to carbonatedking from the MC Discord server. Just a cute little one-shot that spawned from the idea of Keith not liking coffee. I hope you like it!

Finals week; a week marked by at least a dozen mental breakdowns within the student body. The library would be open well past midnight to accommodate the large demand for a quiet place to study. Tables were full of pre-med students who swapped notes while some nearby business majors were typing out paper after paper.

Although most college kids would attest that coffee was all that kept their feeble hearts pumping during these trying times, Keith was never much of a fan of coffee or energy drinks. Caffeine only made him twitchy and hardly helped keep him awake. Pidge on the other hand, sat across from him, fingers twitching over her laptop keyboard as she inhaled what was likely her 12th cup of coffee.

“I’m surprised all that caffeine hasn’t landed you in the hospital,” Keith said.

Pidge grunted, not bothering to look up from her laptop screen. “Yet. I’ll happily crash once I survive the rest of this week.”

“You shouldn’t have procrastinated.”

“Nothing to do about it now. Besides, aren’t you procrastinating right now?”

Keith groaned. He had barely begun writing his English essay, not to mention he still had to study for his Calculus test tomorrow and complete a couple of worksheets for the class. If Shiro was here, he’d likely lecture Keith for this.

“I can just wing the Calc test.”

Pidge paused to send Keith a brief and tired glare. “Sounds like Lance really has been a bad influence on you.”

Keith let out an offended gasp, which caused Pidge to let out a loud snort.

“Yup, there’s the Lance influence again with those dramatics. Normally, you’d have just scoffed or glared or something.”

Keith responded with his usual scowl before the two were interrupted by Shiro’s arrival. Speak of the devil.

“Hey, just thought I’d check up on you two and see how you were doing.”

Pidge rubbed at her eyes, trying to smother out the signs of exhaustion and suffering. “We’re making do and surviving. Honestly, how are you not dead on your feet, Shiro. Isn’t grad school worse?”

Shiro shrugged. “I had enough sense to not procrastinate on my assignments and I’ve got my notecards done so I can pace myself while studying.”

“Don’t let his responsible and collected façade fool you, Pidge. That Sephora shit isn’t enough to cover the fact that he was up until 4 am yesterday finishing those assignments.”

Pidge let out a hearty laugh as Shiro simply blinked before laughing himself.

“I thought I was pretty quiet. Sorry if I woke you up, Keith.”

Pidge shook her head before focusing her eyes back on her essay. “I should have known; Allura’s the only person in our friend group who has their shit together at this time of year.”

“It’s fine,” Keith said, waving off Shiro’s concern. “At least you got stuff done and that’s what counts.”

“Going back to my original question; how are you guys? Finishing up assignments.”

“Not…not exactly…” Keith mumbled, but he was fortunately spared from explaining his situation to his older brother by Lance and Hunk’s timely arrival. Both wore equally tired expressions and held drinks in each hand.

“Hey, guys. Slaving over essays?” Lance said.

“You know it. Did you guys bring the goods?” Pidge said.

Hunk nodded, setting down the largest cup on Pidge’s side of the table. “I still think you should slow down with the caffeine, Pidge.”

“I agree with Hunk.”

“Shiro, at this point if you were to cut me off I’d be hospitalized from the withdrawal rather than my excessive consumption.”

“No use arguing with Pidge. Everyone does this anyway,” Lance said. “We actually didn’t know you’d be here Shiro or we would have brought you a drink too.”

“It’s fine, I’m not staying for long. I mostly came to make sure Keith wasn’t procrastinating.”

“Hey!”

“We all know you too well, Keith,” Pidge shrugged. “I’m almost done with my paper and we both started at the same time.”

“What?” Keith glanced up at the clock that showed that it was 6:30 in the afternoon, meaning that he had only finished 3 pages in 2 hours whereas Pidge was almost done with 12 pages.

“Yeah. I’m actually gonna head back to the dorms to study with Hunk for our computer science final. Sorry I can’t stick around to keep you company,” Pidge said, snapping her laptop shut to look at Keith from across the table.

“It’s fine, Pidge. I appreciate the thought.”

“Don’t worry, I can keep you company, Keith,” Lance said, setting down the two drinks in his hands before placing his bookbag in the chair next to Keith. “I’ve got some stuff to work on too.”

“Good luck, you two,” Hunk said. Pidge finished packing her stuff and followed Hunk out of the library.

“I should get going too. Lance, can you make sure Keith focuses on his work?” Shiro said. Although Lance typically had the attention span of a peanut, he was surprisingly dedicated and focused when it came to school work. His good study habits were what kept him highly ranked; that, and his competitive nature.

“No problem!” Lance said, giving Shiro a bright smile and a mock salute.

Keith scoffed. “Somehow I doubt it.”

Shiro left the two to their work and Lance pulled out his laptop, which was decorated with various stickers to the point that the original laptop color barely peeked out. Keith thought it was pretty cute how Lance loved to decorate his stuff, from his laptop plastered with stickers to his bookbag covered with patches and pins.

“Brought you a drink by the way, mullet,” Lance said, sliding one of the cups over to Keith.

Keith ignored the typical nickname and frowned at the cup. “Thanks, but uh, I don’t really drink coffee.”

Lance laughed. “I know that. It’s not coffee; it’s hot chocolate.”

Keith looked at the cup skeptically before taking a tentative sip. Fortunately, it didn’t burn his tongue and it was surprisingly good.

“Thanks, Lance. This is pretty good.”

Lance nodded. “Well duh, you’d have to be crazy not to love hot chocolate. Of course, the school Starbucks’ hot chocolate doesn’t compare to the kind my mom makes. _Abuelita_ hot chocolate is one of my favorite things about winter.”

“ _Abuelita_?”

“It’s a brand. And a staple in any Hispanic household.”

“That good? Isn’t all hot chocolate the same?”

Lance gasped, stopping his typing to look at Keith with an offended expression. Keith stopped his own work to look back at Lance in confusion.

“Keith! You only say this because you haven’t tried it and I plan to fix that.”

Keith smiled and went back to his paper. He and Lance sat in comfortable silence for the next hour as they worked on their respective essays. It was nice to think he and Lance could silently enjoy each other’s company when only a year ago, they would have been at one another’s throats within 3 minutes.

He wasn’t sure when their dynamic began to change, but having the same group of friends meant that the two had to learn to tolerate each other despite Lance’s loud personality and Keith’s short temper. Although he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when Lance began to think of him as a friend instead of a rival, he was glad to have Lance’s friendship. Lance had turned out to be surprisingly smart, hardworking, caring, and supportive.

Even now, Lance would explain some of the trickier calc problems on the worksheets and Keith in turn pointed out a few grammar mistakes that Lance had missed.

“You sure do like run-on sentences,” Keith said.

“What? Oh, come on, how is that one a run-on!”

“Trust me, it is. This semicolon is wrong by the way.”

“Semicolons make no sense. Also, how did you even get that answer? Let me see where you messed up on your work.”

Hours later, they had both finished their work. Lance quickly looked through Keith’s calculus sheets before assuring him that the work all checked out. Lance stretched and glanced over at the clock which now read 10:05. The library was still packed with students, and it likely would be into the late hours of the night.

“We should probably head out,” Keith said, packing his laptop and notes. “Do you have anything else to study for, Lance?”

“Nope, at least not until Thursday, so I have some time.”

It was dark outside when Lance and Keith stepped out of the library. Keith stuffed his hands into his coat pockets as soon as they were confronted by the freezing winter wind. Both boys weren’t exactly fans of the cold, so they were bundled up from head to toe in several layers.

“Ugh, this weather is awful. It was hot last week, so why is it so cold now!”

“Keith, you sound like an old man complaining about the weather.”

“Shut up, I know you hate it just as much as I do.”

“Alright there, grandpa, I know the cold is hard on your arthritis.”

Keith laughed. A year ago, Keith would think Lance was being obnoxious, but now they slipped into an easy and friendly banter. Lance had a bizarre sense of humor that had grown on him and he found it endearing in a way. Similarly, Lance had accepted Keith’s blunt humor and awkward commentary.

Lance snapped his fingers, breaking the comfortable silence in the cold winter wind as an idea dawned on him. “The Starbucks on campus is open until midnight. Wanna grab another hot chocolate to warm up from this weather?”

“I guess since we’re not too far from it,” Keith said, following Lance as they headed to the cafeteria area.

The Starbucks was just as packed with the students as the library was. Several of them, just like Pidge, were twitching as they held their 12th or so cup of coffee.

“I always love the smell of coffee,” Lance sighed, taking in the rich aroma of ground coffee beans.

“All I can smell is the stench of despair and desperation,” Keith said.

“It wouldn’t be a Starbucks without it,” Lance chuckled.

Eventually, they reached the front of the line and ordered hot chocolates. Keith raised his eyebrow as if to ask Lance why he hadn’t ordered coffee, but Lance simply shrugged before paying for their drinks. Keith argued with him over that as they went to find a table while waiting for their drinks, but Lance just waved off his complaints.

“Consider it my treat for helping me earlier.”

“But you also helped me with my worksheets.”

“I mostly pointed out what you did wrong. Which, to be fair, was a lot, but you’re quick to learn from your mistakes. You’ve always been a fast learner.”

“You’ve always been a good tutor. And I’m paying next time.”

“Is that your way of asking for a second date?”

Keith sputtered, face growing hot as he tried to find words to string together a snappy comeback. He noticed Lance’s face was also tinged pink as he refused to meet Keith’s gaze. Keith was confused; was Lance embarrassed? Had he meant it or was it just another one of his lame jokes?

Fortunately, Keith was spared from overanalyzing the situation or spontaneously combusting into flames when the Starbucks worker called out their names. They retrieved their drinks and sat back down at their table.

“So, what are you and Shiro doing over the break?” Lance asked.

“Probably visiting Allura and Coran. Pidge and Matt have their own plans for Christmas, but I think they’re coming over for New Years. What about you?”

“Well, Hunk’s flying back to his family and so am I.”

“Cool. What kind of stuff does your family do for the holidays?”

“Tons of stuff! We usually spend Christmas Eve at someone’s house—I think this year the whole family’s meeting at my Aunt Rosa’s place—and then Christmas day we just like to sleep in and be lazy cause everyone has the day off from work. We also like to do white elephant gift exchanges and my cousin Andreas is the _best_ when it comes to joke gifts.”

It was always endearing to hear Lance talk about his family. Although most of his stories included complaints about his siblings and cousins, it was obvious that he cared deeply about them. Keith might not be the best when it came to contributing to conversations, but it was easy to just listen to what Lance had to say.

The number of students inside had gradually thinned out and Keith barely noticed once he saw the employees begin to stack the chairs on the tables.

“Shit, what time is it?”

“Huh? It’s…shit! It’s 11:35,” Lance said, having pulled out his phone to check the time. “I’m sorry, I lost track of time and kept you here—"

“It’s no problem. I’m sorry for keeping you out so late during finals week, but I really didn’t mind hearing you talk about your family. I always like hearing your stories,” Keith said.

“We should…we should probably head out then.”

“Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“Our hot chocolates went cold,” Keith pointed out. Lance had been so caught up recounting crazy childhood stories and Keith had been so engrossed in his story that both boys had forgotten about their drinks.

“Well, that’s nothing a shitty microwave can’t fix.”

“Race you to the dorms?” Keith said, taking off as they stepped back outside to face the freezing wind.

“Hey, no fair!”

The two arrived at the dorms a few minutes later, their heavy puffs of breath visible in the cold.

“You only won cause of that unfair head start,” Lance grumbled. “Ugh, and now this cold air is burning my lungs.”

“Yeah, I have some regrets.”

“It was your idea, mullet,” Lance said. “Anyway, uh, I should probably head inside and let you go. You still have to drive back to your place in this cold. But um, since we might not see each other until after break, good luck on your finals.”

“You too, and thanks again for the hot chocolate. I owe you next time.”

“So, there is going to be a next time,” Lance teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

Keith was just glad that he could write off his flushed face to be because of the weather and all that running they did earlier. “Shut up, you know I lo— _like_ hanging out with you. Even if it’s for shitty late night hot chocolate. You’re fun to be around.”

“Thanks, that means a lot coming from you,” Lance said. “It’s like that same kind of honor when a cat grows to like you.”

“So, I’m like a cat,” Keith deadpanned.

“It’s the hair and crabby attitude, but you’re a complete softie underneath.”

“What!?”

“What do you mean, ‘what?’ You were being totally sentimental only a minute ago; don’t tell me now _you_ went and forgot a bonding moment!”

“Guess it’d make us even.”

Lance clutched at his chest, shooting Keith the most comedically offended expression he could manage. “Rude!”

Keith shook his head. “You should try to get some sleep, Lance. It’s almost midnight.”

Keith turned to head to the parking lot, but was surprised when Lance planted a brief and sweet kiss on his cheek. Keith whipped his head around to face Lance as soon as it was over, but Lance was already running towards the building door.

“Good luck on your finals, Keith!” Lance said, waving goodbye to Keith before going inside.

Keith probably stood there for a good ten minutes, fingers hovering over his cheek as he tried to will his face to stop being so red.

At least now he had something to look forward to after the holiday break.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been years since I've written fanfic, but I hope you liked it! Merry Christmas, Carbon!


End file.
